A Penny Earned rallies in rain at Vernon

On a rainy and nasty night at Vernon Downs, A Penny Earned (Conway Hall-Penny Dream) shone bright through the storm in the $10,000 featured 7th race.

A Penny Earned (Chris Lems) sat the pocket trip for a good chunk of the mile, as the favorite, Lutetium (John Macdonald) set the early pace of :27 for the quarter and :56 for the half. My Revenuer (Truman Gale) actually made the first move at the leader as the field entered the far turn, surging on the outside to grab the lead past three-quarters in 1:24.4.

However, My Revenuer could not secure inside position in the stretch. This allowed A Penny Earned to rally up the inside after moving out to split horses, passing the tiring Lutetium. Evil Urges (Jimmy Whittemore), who followed the cover of My Revenuer entering the stretch, finished third. A Penny Earned finished the mile in 1:54.1.

He is owned by Alfred Ross, George Ducharme, and Nicola Oliva of Massachusetts and Paul Fontaine of Rhode Island. Ducharme doubles as the trainer. The win was the second of the season at Vernon Downs for A Penny Earned. The complete order of finish was A Penny Earned, My Revenuer, Evil Urges, Mr. Web Page, Naughty Not Nice, Lutetium, Flashbacks. War Hero was a scratch (sick).

Racing continues at Vernon Downs on Saturday night with a 10-race program. The 9th race, an Open Pace, is the featured event with a purse of $8,000. I Do Hanover is listed as the 2-1 morning-line favorite. Chris Lems is scheduled to have the drive. Post time on Saturday night is 6:45pm.